NORWALK, Ohio – Sometimes we appreciate the little things about our drag racing family, such as a sweet car in the sunset, a bit of spunk, a move to another class.

At Summit Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio, we race together.

So introduce yourself, get acquainted, and make good friends.

For example, this weekend we discovered in the staging lanes Kaytie Boyer and her winter project.

At the 2012 Mr. Gasket $50,000 Super Series Banquet of Champions on January 26, 2013 at Kalahari Resort in Sandusky, Ohio, Kaytie Boyer said she was so excited about a new paint job on a 1988 Thunderbird she races in Accel Sportsman delivered on time by TFC Transportation.

Bart Welte, Findlay, Ohio, may part ways with his 1980 Hummer yellow Mustang soon to focus on racing a machine with more wrestle and pizzazz in the NMRA circuit.

“I’ve got a 1989 Mustang that’s an NMRA Factory Stock, so I’ll be over here for the NMRA race,” said Bart Welte, an assistant professor in a Master of Athletic Training program, as in sports medicine, at University of Findlay. “That’s why I’m trying to sell this (1980). I have no way of getting two cars to the track. And the heads up interests me more now.

“If it doesn’t have doors it’s not for me,” Bart Welte said. “I really like the stick shift stuff now. It’s a challenge to drive something that isn’t particularly easy to drive.”

Appreciative of help and advice from sponsors such as Spec Clutch, TFC Transportation, Injector Experts, and Team Z Motorsports, Bart Welte’s looking for a step up to the national circuit.

The 1980 Mustang ended up with a Hummer yellow color because of attitude: Bart Welte wanted yellow, but not wimpy yellow.“This one goes straight every time,” Bart Welte said. “it used to be my daily driver for a long time. I went through and put a cage in it.

“My buddy who painted it used to do body work,” Bart Welte said. “We used to shoot paintball together. Then we grew up and had kids and stuff.”

“She’s a little scrapper,” Vickie Nolen said. “She barely hits five pounds. My friend’s daughter saw her in a dog’s mouth and thought she was a rabbit. She pried the dog’s mouth open and got her out.”

Estimated at three years old, the little dog survived by herself for months on the street, Vickie Nolen said.

“Her name is Shelbee, after Carroll Shelby,” Vickie Nolen said. “My husband used to drive a ‘93 Mustang. Now he’s driving a friend’s Monza. It’s hard to drive a Chevy when you’re Ford people, but that’s racing. That’s all that matters.

“My buddy painted it,” Rick McWaters said. “He wanted to paint a bike up real bad. I said, ‘Just do it. Whatever you do, you do.’“He did everything,” Rick McWaters said. “It’s the guy who painted the orange Corvette so nice, Chad Sweitzer. Give him the praise, that’s for sure. It took him all week to do it. Every day was something different.”

Rick McWaters raced the 2008 Hayabusa drag bike with a Suzuki 1428 cc motor a few times in 2012.

“When I got out of it, it was at 8.20,” Rick McWaters said. “It should go in the sevens.”